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Use of singular polite.

This form is rarely used, except in somewhat dialects, perhaps for ambiguous social relationships, such as with tradesmen of low status, fairly good friends of equal status, and in general where one would not want to be either particularly respectful or disrespectful. Westerners may find it more comfortable to use this form where Tamilians would use the non-polite form, but it is rare. Formally, this category is realized as a suffix -Ë£ um added to the verb-stem (sg. non-pol. form). Examples: ؽÔ࣠poodum `give, serve'; ÂÔõ´Õ¡Ø´Ôç£ vaangikoorum `take along'. If the verb-stem ends in a vowel, as in the previous form, a morphophonemic -¯- r is inserted between the vowel and the -Ë£ um suffix.



Vasu Renganathan
Sat Nov 2 21:16:08 EST 1996